You know those people? Yeah, I haven't become one of them.
However, I took my little kitten to get spayed today. (I don't normally make a habit of frequenting veterinarians on Sundays - it was a free spay clinic) I had to "recover" her at home, and it was a very strange experience.
They knocked her out with a shot and then gave her to me to fall asleep in my arms. The lady asked if she was asleep and I said "Well, she's calm but her eyes are still open." Apparently, though, she was already asleep. They took her and carried her limp, wide-eyed body around, and got her all ready for surgery. I didn't see much of the surgery, but was watching the other cats that volunteers were "recovering" on a table next to me. They'd pick up these seeming rag dolls that were all staring at me and pet them for a while, then put them back in the carrying boxes.
They handed me my kitten, wrapped in a pink towel and stretched out on her side, and told me to keep her head straight forward so she didn't choke on her own vomit. They gave me a little pink paper with instructions and shooed me out the door.
I took her home and put her, stretched out very nicely, on my sister's bed, making sure the room was very warm. For about an hour I checked on her every five minutes and made sure her head was still stretched out. It was odd to pet her and have her stay perfectly still.
I then took a nap next to her, and noticed that as she woke up, she'd move her head and front legs for a bit, close one eye, and then go back to rag doll-ness. Eventually, she woke up enough to close both eyes. We napped together and she'd regain movement every once in awhile and try to lick her belly. (Don't let your pet like the surgical site, the paper said. Right.)
About 3 hours after her surgery, she jumped off the bed, sneered at the bowl of water I had in the room for her, and waited at the door to be let out of the room. Now she's running around the house, eating and drinking, and jumping onto the counter to drink out of the dripping sink as if nothing has happened.
Is there anything else I should do for her? Is she in pain? I would be if my abdomen had been sliced open. She's certainly not acting like it, though. This is all very new and very odd to me.
Posted by Theca (Member # 1629) on :
I just love the mental image of a sneering kitten. That does sounds pretty weird. I don't know why she is feeling so good. Could be that they numbed the scar area and the numbing hasn't worn off yet. Or the shot was quite powerful and is still keeping her pain-free although not longer unconscious. Or maybe kittens don't feel pain much, maybe that's partly why we do so many more surgeries on kittens. Or maybe you just have a really weird kitten.
I'd probably try to keep her somewhat quiet so she doesn't stretch the stitched area much or over exert herself and just read those pink instructions again. Maybe ak knows all about this sort of thing.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Yeah, Tatiana's going to be a good source of information on this one. My cat was an adult when she was spayed, but I can definitely say that she wasn't her normal self for several days after the surgery.
You know, we really could use a vet around here, couldn't we? I've often thought that I'd make a good vet, and would find it to be a satisfying job.
Posted by Tstorm (Member # 1871) on :
If the spaying operation is anything like removing an appendix, then yes, she is in pain.
However, thinking back to my family's cats, they seem to recover quickly. I don't remember them jumping around, but I do remember they walked around normally.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
I'm not a fan of low cost spay neuter services, because they can be somewhat slipshod in various ways. Annie, did they have you keep her from eating or drinking for 6 or 8 hours before the surgery? I'm concerned that they would warn you against vomiting, since if they did their job right there should be nothing inside to be vomited.
There's no way you can keep her from licking her wound site. Trying is just going to upset her more. It should be stapled so that she can't harm it. (It's been 6 years since I've had to have this done, so it's possible the techniques have changed in the meantime. But again, the fact that they gave you instructions to keep her from licking -- instructions that shouldn't be necessary and are at any rate impossible to follow -- worries me.) And the staples should be removed by the vet in a week or 10 days. Is it stitched? If so and she manages to lick any of the stitches loose then you need to call or take her back.
Again there's no way to keep her from playing. You can confine her in one room and try to keep toys or other cats away, if you want. But there's no way to make her be still, or anything. I think unless another cat was wanting to wrestle or play with her, I would just let her follow her normal routine, maybe minus any toys or playtime. Cats are easily upset by changes. So in other words, don't encourage her to move around any more than she wants to, but don't try to force her to be still.
Posted by xnera (Member # 187) on :
I adopted Raina on a Tuesday, but couldn't take her home until after her surgery. I brought her home on Friday evening. Not sure if I took her home same day, or the day after. But she didn't act like she was in too much pain. I kept her locked in the library all weekend so she could acclimate to her new environment slowly. She mostly investigated the room and licked her belly. And yeah, before I brought her home she had managed to lick her stitches loose, so they glued her shut.
I don't recall if she jumped at all, though. She might have jumped on the loveseat a few times. It's been a while.
Posted by Choobak (Member # 7083) on :
all cats i have was in a good health 3 days after surgery. So I think your cat have well supported the operation. Is she a race cat ? If yes, they are more week than the chats de goutière (as we call us).
So Be cool ! He is in good health.
[ January 10, 2005, 09:42 AM: Message edited by: Choobak ]
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
They did warn me not to feed her before hand, Tatiana, and she hasn't vomited at all.
I don't think she even has stitches - they didn't say anything about removing them, and she appears to be glued shut. So far, everything looks good. She's not quite as rambunctious as usual, but she's still moving around a lot and playing.
Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
In telling you to keep her from licking, they're trying to keep her from irritating her incision site (and removing stitches if they used stitches). I found it was fairly easy to distract our kitten when she'd want to start licking her stitches. We were also advised to try to keep her from jumping. It's impossible to keep one from jumping period, but it's not usually too hard to keep them from jumping when you know they're going to do it (ie. lift them up and down when you know they want to get up or down).
Posted by celia60 (Member # 2039) on :
Annie, don't worry, you're not crazy cat people until you take one to a pet psychiatrist.
I am crazy cat people.
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
I had no idea pet psychiatrists existed. Do they lay down on a little couch?
Posted by celia60 (Member # 2039) on :
No. They spend a couple hours trying to figure out how you've screwed up as an owner, while you try to convince them that your cat doesn't have aggressive tendencies and then make you a list of very specific instructions to follow.
They also mention Prozac, but only as a last-ditch solution should nothing on the list work.
Posted by Space Opera (Member # 6504) on :
I worked as a vet assistant for a few years, and always thought the funniest part of the job was watching the cats that had just been put under with a shot. Usually the vet gave the shot, then the cat was returned to a cage in the back in order to give the shot time to work. I can't count how many times we'd go back there to find a cat soundly knocked out and still clinging to the bars of the cage with all of its feet.
space opera
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Annie, my friend's sister has taken all of her pets to animal shrinks. Believe me, it says much more about her than it does about them.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
The worst I've done (well it depends on how you define worst) is taken my dog to a animal masseuse that did work with chakras. It was a husband wife team who would set up a booth at the dog shows. The husband worked with the dogs, the wife worked with the humans. There was a dog-human combo price that was great.
He needed a demo dog for a demonstration he was giving later, and he used Ciara who was a ball of raging hormones at the time and I told him so. The amount he got her calmed down was impressive. Though he claimed to have some sort of vibe off of her that she liked playing in water. I don't know what that was about...
AJ
[ January 10, 2005, 05:07 PM: Message edited by: BannaOj ]
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
This is Ketchupqueens husband. I worked as a vet tech for about 7 years. Tatiana is right though about keeping her somewhat calm. It sounds like they did internal suturing which will disolve over time. If you notice any redness or inflammation at the site, then you might need to take her back in.
If they did give a pain shot (which they most vets do for surguries) then it should have helped her get over the intial pain. She may still be sore, so try not to pick her up under her abdomen. Good luck.
Posted by RackhamsRazor (Member # 5254) on :
The kitten should be fine. Just keep the running and playing to a minimum if you can to make sure the staples or stitches don't come out. Also, about the vomiting, they were probably just warning you in case the cat did manage to eat/drink a little something before the surgery. Plus, often the drugs they give the cats before surgery to knock them out can have a tendency to induce vomiting (sometimes just foamy stuff). The kitty will probably be sore but sounds like she is feeling fine to me. I know my cat didn't move much for days after her surgery (I think she was just mad at us though-hehe).
Posted by Scythrop (Member # 5731) on :
Yeah, when our pup was spayed (by the RSPCA) she vomited afterwards, even though she had been fasting beforehands. Just the foamy stuff - apparently it's quite a common reaction to the anaesthetic.
[imogen here]
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
Oh, and I'm DEFINITELY one of those people who talks about cats.
What I don't do, though, is buy cat iconography. I get all the cat images I need from the actual live cats that live here and hang around the place. For some reason people always get me cat things, though. So I have a moderate collection of cat stuff ... picture frames, porcelain statuary, jewelry boxes, pillows, throws, dishes, jewelry, etc. but all of it given to me by other people.
I really want one of those super cat jungle gyms, you know? The type that are all covered in carpeting and have lots of levels, tunnels, tubes, chambers, and platforms? Andrei and I planned to make them once, when they came for a visit, but we never had time. Designing it would be fun but glueing all that carpet I don't look forward to. Maybe I should just buy one for the cats' Christmas present one year. They are getting sort of tired of the standard package of ping pong balls in their stockings.
Anyway, yeah, I am pretty sure I was known as the cat lady at the last apartment I lived in. Now, though, I hardly can count as one, since I'm down to just 3 cats. Real cat ladies should have at least five or six, don't you think? Maybe it's time for another litter. Posted by Trisha the Severe Hottie (Member # 6000) on :
I wonder how much money I could make developing a revised pet horoscope. Since a dog year is 7 human years.
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Evil]](graemlins/evil.gif)